


One step forward

by Night_Air



Series: haunted [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble Sequence, Gen, Ghosts, Hurt/Comfort, naruto can see ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 05:09:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20186788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_Air/pseuds/Night_Air
Summary: The pain is still there, but it’s muted, and for the first time, the thought of Rin brings a genuine smile to Kakashi's face.[A drabble sequence set at the end oflet's stop running from our ghosts.]





	One step forward

**1\. Rin**

Later, in the privacy of his apartment, still sprinkled with dots of paint and glitter, Kakashi reads through the slightly crumpled letter Naruto gave him. The handwriting is atrocious and barely legible, but Kakashi can still make out Rin’s very unique personality—the letter is in equal parts cheerful and threatening and Kakashi can’t help but imagine Rin standing next to him, scowling fiercely and scolding him about how he should be taking better care of himself. The pain is still there, but it’s muted, and for the first time, the thought of her brings a genuine smile to his face. If Kakashi’s eyes water as he reads the letter for the third time, even with Obito’s sharingan uncovered, well. No one but his ghosts will know.

**2\. Graduation**

The next year, after the Academy graduation, Kakashi doesn’t feel the usual looming dread that comes with being assigned a new genin team. When the Sandaime announces the three members assigned to him, Kakashi immediately knows that _this _team will be the first to pass his test. After all, it’s _Naruto_.

**3\. Team 7**

Naruto loves Team 7, despite all of its flaws. He always imagined being on a team with Sakura, who is so wonderful and pretty, even when she hits him over the head for saying something dumb or when he’s fighting with Sasuke—which is a lot of the time. It’s not Naruto’s fault that Sasuke gets on his nerves all the time. They’re just not very..._compatible _in most situations; really, that’s anytime they’re not on missions or sparring as a team, and even then, it’s a toss-up. Naruto thinks Sasuke’s a jerk and Sasuke thinks Naruto is dead-last and they’re both technically correct but it’s more fun to pretend that the other is not.

**4\. Ghosts**

Sometimes Sasuke arrives at practice with a considerable number of ghosts trailing behind him, all sporting the same dark eyes and hair. Naruto looks and wonders but doesn’t treat Sasuke differently than any other day. The ghosts fade quickly, and the other boy always looks a little less tense after Naruto encourages him into an intense sparring session. On those days, Naruto sometimes even manages to coax Sasuke—and Sakura—into eating at Ichiraku with him.

**5\. ** **Precious people**

For Naruto, it’s sometimes a little odd having Kakashi-niichan as his sensei because it’s been a little over a year since Naruto met the jounin for the first time. He’ll always remember it. In honor of that first meeting, Naruto sometimes visits Rin’s grave with flowers. Now that they know each other well, she’ll appear whenever he shows up, even if Kakashi’s not with him. The flowers always seem to make her happy. 

Kakashi himself is a rather laidback teacher, only offering the bare minimum of encouraging words (as well as instruction). But Naruto’s always been a hard worker, and he works twice as hard at anything Kakashi teaches him. Sasuke pretends he doesn’t care, but he’s competitive at heart, and Sakura is surprisingly stubborn once she gets going.

It’s even better when Naruto can see the transparent ghosts of his parents sitting on the sidelines as he trains. They cheer him on, even if he’s struggling at a particular skill, and it only encourages him to push harder. They appear less often than they did when Naruto first talked to them. Naruto’s pretty sure it’s because he’s not alone with only ghosts for company anymore. He has Kakashi-niichan, Sasuke, Sakura and even the members of Team 8 and Team 10. Naruto is _happy_, surrounded by his precious people, and that, more than anything, means the world to him.


End file.
